Notre Dame

In Paris, the Notre Dame is a massive cathedral, one of the most well known church buildings in the world and “widely considered to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architectures. For those who have either not seen it in person or at all, one can imagine the grandeur of the cathedral depicted in Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Its just like the animation, but better and more breathtaking. Upon approaching the cathedral for the first time, one might feel like they are entering a dream or a movie.

The outer display of the architecture is plain in color, but rich in detail. The West facade of the cathedral, which most tourists will be seen entering and exiting, is symmetrical with two vertical towers and horizontal bands of sculptures of saints and other detailed decorative stonework. Notre Dame also has flying buttresses giving support to the walls, and the famous gargoyles can be seen all around the upper portions of the outer walls. Inside the cathedral, the lighting is dim. The cathedral has no bright lights inside, but instead has

several massive stain glass windows that let sunlight give off a more beautiful indoor lighting and accentuate the beauty in the window art itself.

Concerning, John Ruskin’s Seven Lamps of Architecture and The Stones of Venice as Palimpsests for Contemporary Architecture, there are several aspects to Notre Dame’s architecture that reflect portions of what he calls the Seven Lamps. To provide a couple of examples, the Notre Dame follows the first lamp, Sacrifice, in that it

is an offering to God, or in this case to the catholics most honored intercessor, The Virgin Mary. It also demonstrates the third lamp, Power, in the construction’s focus on its mass, shadow and breadth. However, Ruskin’s lamps do not seem to quite apply in every way to the Notre Dame, or to gothic architecture in general. It seems that Ruskin’s ideal form of architecture is to have many reflections of nature and beauty, which is not seen in every aspect of Gothic, and massiveness and aesthetic like that of Gothic. Ruskin even explains the Gothic style as rigid, grotesque, and savage.